THERE’S chaos in the upper ranks at Brant Publications, publishers of Interview, Art in America and The Magazine Antiques, following the departure of Editorial Director Glenn O’Brien.
Ryan Brant, the former boy wonder and CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, apparently has been installed quietly as president of the publishing operation run by his father, Peter.
Take-Two was the developer of the fabled “Grand Theft Auto” video franchise, but while sales continue to boom, Brant is long gone from the operation that his dad helped bankroll when Ryan was in his early 20s.
That’s because the younger Brant is still on probation for his February 2007 guilty plea for backdating stock options at the video-game publisher.
As part of that plea, Brant paid a $7.3 million fine and agreed to a five-year probation.
This month, Ryan Brant’s name appeared on the masthead of Art in America as president. It was supposedly the first time it’s been on the masthead, but sources say he’s been involved in the company for months, during which time he sought to keep a low profile.
After failing to find a buyer for the publishing company, Peter Brant bought out ex-wife Sandra’s share of the company in early 2008, and vowed to pump more money into it.
He installed O’Brien, GQ’s “Style Guy” columnist, as editorial director and fashion icon Fabien Baron was installed as creative director. Alan Katz, a former publisher at Hearst and Condé Nast, was brought out of retirement to pound the streets again on Madison Avenue.
But soon things started going south as the economy faltered and high-end luxury magazines started facing pressure.
First to go was Katz, ousted right before Christmas. Baron left earlier this year.
O’Brien, after months of tension and budget wrangling, finally resigned earlier this week.
He declined to comment, but sources said the departure was no surprise to either party.
“It was more like a divorce, where the couple agrees to separate because it was clear it was never going to work out,” said one source close to O’Brien.
Ryan Brant had not returned a call by presstime.
More flack
Just when Newsweek was beginning to reap a little positive buzz from Stephen Colbert serving as guest editor this week, the weekly has become involved in another morale-sapping dust-up — this time involving its cozy relationship with MSNBC and “Morning Joe” talk show host Joe Scarborough.
The relationship has Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham on the defensive — and placed in the unenviable position of watering down a story on Scarborough while enduring criticism from his own staff.
The imbroglio started when Newsweek media writer Johnnie Roberts, during an interview in which Scarborough was shilling a new book, brought up the talk-show host’s past as a Florida lawyer who once represented a person accused of shooting a doctor who performs abortions.
“I’m an attorney. I represented clients. I did it as a favor to the family,” Scarborough told Roberts in the interview, conducted not long after Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in Wichita, Kan., by an antiabortion activist.
Roberts led his Q&A with those comments, and Web editors at Newsweek were expecting a nice traffic surge for what they billed as a “Web exclusive” when it was posted online Friday.
However, Roberts’ original story was replaced with another version of the Q&A, with the controversial comments further down in the story.
Insiders grumbled there might have been a quid pro quo at work given Meacham is a frequent guest on MSNBC, appearing most recently on Scarborough’s talk show on Monday to dis cuss Colbert’s turn as guest editor.
Meacham conceded he was behind the changes and that he had made them after objections were raised on Friday by Scarborough’s reps shortly after the original version appeared online.
“I took a look at it,” said Meacham. “I considered the context in which we were publishing — after he had already addressed it publicly — and decided to put it in the flow of the interview. I decided it was the better way to do it. We make these calls on a case-by-case basis.
“Nothing was scrubbed,” insisted Meacham. “There was no quid pro quo. That is nowhere near reality.”
Calls to MSNBC were not returned, and Roberts declined to comment.
Mousterful
The Walt Disney Co. is slapping its corporate name onto Family Fun magazine, now calling the mag Disney’s Family Fun and renaming the US Consumer Magazine Publishing Group as Disney Family Fun Publishing Group.
Sources said there has always been internal debate about how much to play up the Disney connection, trying not to scare away readers or advertisers.
And in the latest debate, the Disney corporate brand advocates won. keith.kelly@nypost.com